Samir Vidyasagar Bhardwaj v. Nandita Samir Bhardwaj
. R. BANUMA'fHI, J, 1. Leave granted.
2. An order passed by the High Court of Bombay in Writ
Petition(C) No. 169 of 2017 dated 11.01.2017 wherein the High Court
affirmed the interim order passed by the Family Court in and by which
the appellant-husband has been directed to remove himself from his
own home and not to visit there until the divorce petition is finally decided
is under challenge.
3. This case presents a very unpleasant tale of a couple having
daughters who are in their early twenties witnessing a bitter matrimonial
battle between their parents. The appellant and the respondent herein
tied nuptial knot on 05.05.1992. The couple resided in two flats being
Flat No. 102 and Flat No. I 03 situated in the building known as "Hi
Ville" 29'h Road, Bandra(West), Mumbai. The said two flats were sold
by the couple and they purchased a flat bearing No. 20 I situated in
"Aashna" Building, 8, St. Martin Road, Bandra (West) Mumbai by way
of Agreement for Sale dated 22.11.20 I 0. The said flat was purchased in
the joint names of the appellant and the respondent herein where they
have been resid.ing with their two daughters till date.
SAMIR VIDYASAGAR BHARDWAJ v. NANDITA SAMIR 91
BHARDWAJ [R. BANUMATHI, J.]
4. After more than two decades of marital life, on 09.07.2015 · A
respondent-wife filed a petition under Section27(1)(d) of the Special
Marriage Act for divorce against the appellant being Petition No. A-
1873 of2015 in the Family Court at Bandra, Mumbai. The respondent
has sought various other reliefs including a direction to be give11 to the
appellant to move out of the matrimonial home and handover vacant and
peaceful possession of the same to the respondent and to pay a
maintenance ofRs. l ,00,000/-and other consequential reliefs apart from
seeking dissolution of marriage. An application being I.A. No.162 of
2015 was filed by the respondent-wife under Section 19(1 )(b) of the
Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (for short 'the
Domestic Violence Act') praying for issuance of mandatory injunction
against the appellant-husband to inove out of the matrimonial house and
handing over the vacimt and peaceful possession of the house. In addition
to the aqove, she had also sought for alimony/maintenance and the
expenses of marriage of her daughters.
5. When the application was taken up by the Family Com1, the
respondent-wife did not press for other reliefs and she pressed only for
the relief of mandatory injunction to direct the appellant-husband to move
out of the matrimonial house. The application was resisted by the appellant
herein denying all the allegations stating therein that identical relief with
regard to injunction having been sought in the Divorce Petition, the same
cannot be granted at an interim stage. The appellant had also contended
before the Family Court that he being the owner of the flat, cannot be
deprived from using his house. It is also the case of the appellant-husband
that the all~gations made by the respondent-wife are not supported by
way of anything on record and that the wife owns a flat jointly with her
mother at Tardeo and another one on pagadi basis.
6. The Divorce Petition has been filed on the ground of cruelty
and the respondent-wife had alleged in the application seeking interim
relief that she had been subjected to mental and physical cruelty due to
which living under one roof with the appellant-husband has become
impossible. Even the daughters who have filed their respective affidavits
have supported the stand taken by their mother namely the respondent.
The counsel further st(lted that the husband was owing a flat jointly with
his mother and is just five minutes walking distance from the matrimonial
home and that no inconvenience would be caused to him.
92
SUPREME COURT REPORTS · (2017] 4 S.C.R.
7. The Family Court passed the interim order on 13.12.2016
directing the appellant-husband to remove himself out of the matrimonial
house and not to visit the same till the decision of the divorce petition.
Aggrieved by the interim order passed by the Family Court, the appellant
husband approached the High Court by way of a writ petition stating
therein that final relief sought in the main petition could not have been
granted at interim stage; h~ being a co-owner oqhe premises, he cannot
be ·evicted from that premises which amounted to his vi1tual dispossession
of the premises of which he was a co-owner. It was urged that there is
no independent/corroborative .evidence to suppo1t the claini of domestic
violence and impugned order is harsher than temporary injunction.
8. Heard learned counsel for the parties.
9. The only issue to.be addressed i.n this case is whether the order
directing appellant-husband to remove himself from the matrimonial home
of which he is a co-owner warrants interference.
10. It is an undisputed fact that the property is a shared household
of the parties. The appellant-husband is working with the Taj Group of
Hotels and the respondent-wife is working as an airhostess with the
British Airways. As is seen from the organisations in which they are
working, bofh the appellant and the respondent are independent and having
their OWn source of income. We have gone through the allegations of
domestic violence made not only by the.respondent-wife but also in the
affidavits filed by their grown up daughters wherein they have expressed
their feelings in view of the dispute between their parents and also their
feelings as to the conduct of their father at home. We do not propose to
go into those avermeiits in the affidavit sworn in by the daughters, lest it
would prejudice either parties while contesting the main matter.
11. Section 19( 1 )(b) of the Protection of Women Domestic
Violence Act provides tliat the Court may direct the appellant-husband
to remove himself from the shared household. The order passed under
Section 19 of the Act seeks to maintairi continued and undisturbed
residence of the aggrieved pa1ty within the shared household and in
pursuance of same it directs the respondent to execute a bond with or
without surety or secure im alternate accommodation for the aggrieved
party and pay the rent for the same and restrafr1s the respondent from or
renouncing property rights or valuable security of the aggrieved party.
SAMIR VIDYASAGAR BHARDWAJ v. NANDITA SAMIR
BHARDWAJ [R. BANUMATHI, J.]
12. The Family Court arrived at a finding that primafacie material
was available 011 record to accept the allegation of the respondent-wife
011 domestic vio1ence wl1erein the concerned Judge had exercised his
discretioi1 under Section 19( l)(b) of the' Doiri~stic Violence Act which
provides that the Magistrate on being satisfi¢d that domestic violence
·has taken place can remove the spouse from the shared household which
(' . I
in our opinion he has rightly done. Exercise of discretion by Family Court
cani1ot be said to be perverse warriti1ti1ig'interfore1foe.·Tlie High Court
· ~hile declining to interfere with the o_rder has also considered th~ factual
and legal position. . , , .. , 1 ,, , 1 ~ ""·' • . , .
. · . 13. Having gone through the orders of the High Com1 and the
·Family Court and considerii1g the fact that the daughters are grown up,
'we are not inclined to exercise our discretion under Article 136 of the
Constitution oflndia at the interlocutory stage. The appeal is dismissed.
We direct the Family Court, Sandra, Mumbai to expedite tl1e hearing in
the Divorce Petition and dispose the same expeditiously. We make it
clear that we have not expressed any opinion on the merits of the matter.
The Family Court shall try and dispose of the case uiiintluei1ced by any
observations or findings either in the impugned order or this order. No
"costs:. \'. . ...
l' ·~
Kalpana K., Tripalhy
I (. '''"
• ~ I 1~,,'
f(\ / !"\11\\1
.,,.,... - '\
' \
,• - '- I \, ,) ~.'. ' I ,._, . , ...•.
I· ·,·".\I I
~.ti" · ~\'.~'. 1.• 'Appeal dismissed.
' , .~
. l .1 . . • .··. 1.- f \ \H'
f d 1 ·~ . \ I I• ~ \ ... • - • ' • .I ~
'\ 1-1\'!·1 l\',I' : I Jo• .,t \ 1 1 I,,,.\
·,•\ ,\'-J\ ' "\'.>"! , .•• \,\\
• ,1.1 r · l I \J\\,,;~ '~"\\_.. ., l~~~·tar\r .;
' ' \ , '\\. ~~
·_ ~ \." .. · '. I i\ \ . f • \\_' ~' l •
: '" ··~ " , 1 \. l ,I f'IJ." 1_,/,• "l\'l . \•I,,,\ j\\'. ~ L\
I '. ,!: L \ :· \~ J j\\\ . \ (\~ ,l I, )
. , 1001 '.l'd I d lfrrt JL,.I 1"·,J
,i.!li'· ( !'.:) II'. II 1it·J'Jt' .JJ ,·
,·.;n:ll.! "'1 .; J. J ·i .-· .• , li..o1.I ... ,~ ~-"'~ dJ ~d ft,rl ,r ~Hli··: i. ';:..
·,.;r:i:o ui "'.t' ....... , l · •
1
: •• ~ •• ,. t.i • .:.ui:. 11•' _r:1 L•1 ~ t:.J:J~-1":4 <1• 11 ,..._...,"J,UI·· -l, !
93